Passover At Hogwarts: Jewish Fascination With Harry Potter Goes Way Back
Image by Jewish Business News
Riding on the coattails of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” a new Harry Potter-themed haggadah is coming out this week.
But Jewish spinoffs of all things Harry Potter are nothing new.
The author of the new haggadah, Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg, has used Harry Potter to teach Torah for years. While the later books were still coming out, he ran a book club at SAR Academy in Riverdale for middle school students to write their own chapters for the series.
Dov Krulwich, a computer scientist in Israel, wrote “Harry Potter and Torah,”.
Fellow member of the tribe Dinah Bucholz wrote “The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook,” a guide to the delicacies enjoyed by wizards from the Leaky Cauldron to Hogwarts. The cookbook includes recipes for Kreacher’s French Onion Soup and Pumpkin Pasties among others.
In 2014, J.K. Rowling confirmed via Twitter that there were Jews at Hogwarts, including a certain Ravenclaw named Anthony Goldstein. In “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Porpentina and Queenie Goldstein, two of Anthony’s relatives, make an appearance, as well.
Contact Shira Hanau at [email protected]
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
